The 40-year-old South African has been around the block enough times to know what to say and – perhaps more importantly – what not to say to maintain a sense of professionalism.

But on the eve of Bellator 56 and a second-chance opportunity in the season-five heavyweight tournament, the usually reverent fighter is both candid and frank.

Grove (11-4-1 MMA, 3-2 BFC), who was the runner-up to current champ Cole Konrad in the season-three heavyweight tournament, meets fellow replacement Thiago Santos (9-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC) in the tourney semifinals at Saturday’s Bellator 56 event. The event takes place at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan. The main card airs on MTV2 (and in high-definition on EPIX), and the prelims stream on Spike.com.

Grove, who lost an opening-round fight to Mike Hayes, is a replacement for injured Blagoi Ivanov. Santos, who missed the opening round due to visa issues, instead earned a tourney-reserve win over Josh Burns. And he ultimately got his spot in the tourney as an injury replacement for Hayes, who suffered a broken orbital bone during his win over Grove.

With that mess resolved, Grove is simply thankful to be back in the eight-man tourney, and he’s eager to get a rematch with Konrad. But he’s not simply hoping for the easiest route to the finals, which is why he doesn’t bite his tongue about Santos.

“I never have anything bad to say about anybody, including opponents,” he told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “But I wasn’t too impressed to be honest. He looked a little slow. He’s a black belt in BJJ, and he couldn’t even get his hook into Josh Burns, who I don’t consider in an A- or B-level fighter. He got lucky getting a spot in this tournament.

“But you can’t judge someone on their last fight, or you could judge me on mine.”

And that’s something Grove hopes people don’t do. He wants to obliterate the memory of that flat performance against Hayes at Bellator 52, which came after a solid 4-1-1 run.

It was a close fight, but after fading late (thanks partially to an ill-advised attempt at a foot lock, as well damage to his lead leg), Grove suffered a split-decision defeat.

“As a striker, you need your front leg,” said Grove, who also had a daughter born just prior to the fight. “Whenever I hurt him or clipped him, I found it very hard to follow up. I just decided to change the way I fight. I don’t think I did too badly or that it was a bad fight. I just didn’t do enough to sway the judges my way.

“Looking at the highlights, I thought I won the fight. But whatever the judges decide, you can’t change that. But I will never leave it up to the judges ever again.”

Grove is taking that mindset into tonight’s fight with Santos. He’s learned from his mistakes, and it’s a lesson he doesn’t need to repeat.

“It was a big learning experience for me,” he said. “But it’s not something I want to experience again.”

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by Gorgeous George, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Goze. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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